the two mods are independent of eachother, people just tend to do both at the same time because of the "well, while i'm in here I might as well" train of thought.
Venting the drivers will increase the bass. the more you vent, the more bass you get. I found joy at 2 vents, others 4, some go for all 10, I'd start with 2-4 and go from there if you want more. dampening the cups however is a different mod entirely. by dampening the cups, you are helping prevent wave reflections from bouncing out the back of the driver, and back into your ears. this helps reduce silibance (or is it sibilance... Its kind of late here, I'm procrastinating a paper I need to do and drinking redbull...I think its sibilance. I don't know...anywayyyyy) in the sound signature. sibilance (yeah, i'll go with that spelling bob, and thats my final answer) is what makes your brain kind of hurt in the temples after a while. I didn't find this mod necessary, but some find it very helpful, it depends on your ears and your preferences.
Yum, those aluminum cups with bowl pads look awesome.. hmmm...I wonder if a vented and modded SR325i with bowls could do dubstep and trance well... thats a tantilizing thought. or maybe an SR60 with bowl pads, custom aluminum cups, and 10 vent holes. the 10 vent holes would balance out the bass-absorbing g-cush pads. with a black J$ headband they would be gorgeous... hmm... Grado sound with bass, and thump... this sounds like a great idea...
I need to put a neutrik plug on my sr60 first though, I keep accidentally puting pressure on the straight jack and if I keep it up i'll break my headphone out.
Actually, I'm impressed with how well my woodied SR60's do electronica. They sound better than anything I've heard (thats not much at all), and I prefer them to the v6 which I don't find fun at all, even if it has more bass than the grado... Now, listening to the Seether live album on the grado's today was amazing. Even though today was a downer, and the songs were sad, the realism of it all, the airyness, the attack of his voice, the resonance of the individual strings of the guitar reverberating through my (cheaply and poorly crafted) oak shells was wow.
I don't know why I'm typing this, I really don't...
Does anyone have a Neutrik right angle plug they'd ship via envelope? I can't justify buying a $3 connector and paying $5 shipping. PM me.... anyway. I'm getting WAY off topic, and should probably get back to work. So, Hasta la musica and Bien Viaje! Or something like that.